The Little Mermaid
by Je Violet Grace
Summary: She gave up her current life and put herself in danger to keep him alive and remain beside him, only to realize that he had always been unreachable for her. Or so she thought.
1. Prologue

The Organization always reminded her that her parents had passed away in a car accident, when she was two.

What they didn't know was that, even though Shiho Miyano was two, her memory was good enough to remember that the same person that was standing in front of her right now had also been the driver of the truck that had crashed into her parents' Toyota.

The truck driver, a man around twenty with long, silver hair that reached up to his thighs and cold gray eyes had come up to her and apologized, patting her auburn head.

"I'm sorry," he had said.

Shiho Miyano was smart enough to be able to connect the high-ranking executive agent in front of her to the truck driver eleven years ago.

Trying to keep her face straight, Shiho turned away from Gin to go back to taking notes on the experiment. "Why are you here, Gin?"

The silver-haired man looked at Shiho worriedly. "Did you stay up all night again, Sherry? It's already six. Since it's your first day, I'll drive you to school." Gin approached the thirteen-year-old scientist and touched her shoulder.

"I can go to school by myself," Shiho replied coolly, brushing Gin's hand off.

The scientist shrugged her lab coat off and exchanged it for a zip-up navy hoodie.

A black backpack slung over one shoulder, Shiho walked out of the lab (it was made to look like a normal house from the outside).

When she rode the bus, Shiho took out her phone. Resisting the urge to dial Akemi's number and call her, she pulled out her earphones and started listening to music.

It was going to take her a good thirty minutes to get to school anyways; it would be a good use of time to sleep a little bit in the bus.

Shiho silently hummed along to the melody of the song, mouthing the lyrics.

 _Say something, I'm giving up on you_

 _I'll be the one, if you want me to_

 _Anywhere I would've followed you_

 _Say something, I'm giving up on you_

It was Akemi's favorite song; Akemi would have had it as her ringtone if it hadn't been a ballad.

Shiho closed her eyes as Ian Axel whispered the lyrics of _Say Something_ into her ears.

 _And I will stumble and fall_

 _I'm still learning to love_

 _Just starting to crawl…._

.

.

.

Miss Pond smiled brightly as she introduced Shiho to the class. "Hi everyone! This is Shiho Miyano! She's super pretty when she smiles! Say hi to the class, Shiho!"

Shiho bit her lip at this ( _super pretty when she smiles._ Who _says_ that?); Miss Pond was obviously new to being a teacher.

"Hello, I'm Shiho Miyano."

"There are two empty seats! Shiho, would you rather sit beside Anna, in the front, or beside Shinichi, in the back?" Miss Pond asked enthusiastically. Shiho was not liking this teacher. Besides, it wasn't like she was going to listen to the teacher anyways.

"I'll take the seat beside Shinichi, thank you very much." Shiho smiled wearily and walked to the back to sit besides the sleeping black-haired boy.

Because the so-called "Shinichi" was sleeping with his head down on his desk and his arms supporting it, the red-brown haired girl couldn't see his face, but she found the fact that his hair was all combed down except for the cowlick at the back of his head pretty amusing.

'He's probably also Japanese,' Shiho thought. His name _screamed_ Japanese.

Feeling relieved by the fact that she wasn't the only Japanese in the class-there was also a girl in the third row that looked Japanese-Shiho followed suit by also putting her head down on her desk and sleeping.

She fell asleep pretty quickly, considering that she had not had had any sleep for at least 24 hours.

.

.

.

Shiho was awakened by an immense pain on her head. "Aaahh…"

She slowly raised her head to see the physics teacher scowling at her. Trying to find the reason for her pain, Shiho reached up to touch her head only to find the top of her wavy auburn hair coated with white powder.

 _Had that old man just thrown a chalk at her head?!_

But she hadn't been the only one sleeping—

Shiho turned to her side to look at Shinichi (she didn't know his last name).

Shinichi was very well awake and was busy taking notes from the board and highlighting phrases on his textbook.

Shiho's mind went off in several directions, from "why isn't he sleeping?" to "did I just get _betrayed_?" (um, no; another part of her mind said) and "he's actually good looking!"

Shiho quickly shook off the last thought.

"Miss Miyano, if you're so confident in physics, why don't you go ahead and explain the definition of gravity to us? _Without_ using the textbook?" The teacher croaked.

The forty-year-old man crossed his arms and looked confidently down at the new student.

In his 13 years of teaching, _nobody_ had been able to answer that question correctly.

The physics teacher was planning to give her detention after school and assign her to copy down three chapters of the physics textbook three times on her notebook; complete with drawings and charts and everything.

Feeling annoyed and wanting to get this over with (she wanted to go back to sleep), Shiho got up and started rattling off everything she knew about gravity from her memory.

"Gravity or gravitation is a natural phenomenon by which all things attract one another including stars, planets, galaxies and even light and sub-atomic particles. Gravity is responsible for the formation of the universe-for example, creating spheres of hydrogen, igniting them under pressure to form stars and grouping them into galaxies. Gravity is a cause of time dilation; time lapses more slowly in strong gravitation. Without gravity, the universe would be without thermal energy and composed only of equally spaced particles. On Earth, gravity gives weight to physical objects and causes the tides. Gravity has an infinite range, and it cannot be absorbed, transformed, or shielded against.

"Gravity is most accurately described by the general theory of relativity-proposed by Albert Einstein in 1915-which describes gravity, not as a force, but as a consequence of the curvature of spacetime caused by the uneven distribution of mass and/or energy. Also-"

The physics teacher laughed nervously and waved his hand, motioning at Shiho to sit down. The students in class gaped at the auburn haired half-Japanese girl.

As soon as he did, the girl's head dived into her arms and she went off to sleep.

And when Shiho went to sleep, the bell also wrung.

As the physics teacher gathered up his stuff and walked out of the room, he couldn't help but wonder:

 _What_ is _she? How does she even know all that stuff? A girl with an IQ of 290? A college graduate? A science mastermind? A 21st century mixture of Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton?_

Indeed, Shiho Miyano was all of those things.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Hi! This is Je Violet Grace with my first fanfiction. Not at this site; this is actually my first fanfiction. I hoped you enjoyed it. It's a tad bit short but it's the prologue anyways so^^; English is not my first language, so it might be a little... well._

 _The main focus will be on Shinichi/Shiho but other pairings will also come up :)_


	2. Chapter 1

"Um, hi!" Shiho smiled, shyly raising her hand. "Shinichi! I didn't think we'd ride the same bus home."

"Who are you?" Shinichi Kudo asked, plucking his earphones out and looking slightly irritated. "Have we met before? How do you know my name?"

Shiho Miyano, had, of course, not been expecting a smiley Shinichi hugging her back merrily and exclaiming something along the lines of: "Shiho! I didn't expect you here either!"

But she hadn't been expecting Shinichi not remembering her either. Had she been such a forgettable person?

"Oh, uh, I'm Shiho Miyano, the person sitting beside you during class?"

Shinichi's face crinkled up, as if he was trying to remember something that hadn't happened. Then, as if deciding that his memory was not reliable, he shrugged and said: "Oh. I'm sorry, my memory is not very good." He then put his earphone back in his left ear and closed his eyes.

Shiho chuckled nervously, sitting down on the seat behind him. "You actually helped me two times yesterday?" Shiho tried again. She had hoped that Shinichi would remember her.

"Me? You? When?" Shinichi asked.

 _He really doesn't remember?_ "Oh, never mind. Just keep listening to your music. I'm sorry for bothering you."

Shinichi smiled apologetically. "No, you're not bothering me, I'll remember you from now on though! What's your name again?"

"Shiho Miyano," Shiho said.

"Shinichi Kudo, nice to meet you," Shinichi said, offering his hand for a handshake. When Shiho accepted, he patted the seat beside him. "Come sit beside me." Shiho bit her lips to stop herself from blushing. She carefully sat beside the boy.

Shinichi produced a candy from his pocket and offered it to Shiho. Shiho smiled, taking it for granted, as she popped the melon-flavored candy into her mouth. "I have a feeling we'll get to be close friends," Shinichi said to himself.

.

 _4 years later_

.

"The boss told me to tell you that the pill you're making-what was it's name? APTX 4868? should be finished in a week," Gin informed the seventeen-year-old scientist walking around the laboratory, giving orders and taking notes.

"Impossible." Was all Shiho said to Gin before she turned around, ignoring the middle-aged man.

"It's already been four years since you've taken on this project. And you haven't made any progress, from what I know." Gin picked up one of the pills on Shiho's desk. "Why do they keep turning into toxic? You're not supposed to make poison."

 _Four years since I've known Shinichi._ "We might be able to finish it in maybe a month. Give us more time." Shiho whirled around and walked away from Gin to check on a scientist that was motioning towards her. "What's wrong, Manuel?"

Gin grabbed one of Shiho's shoulders and turned her away from the scientist to face him. " _I asked_ , why do they keep turning to toxic?"

Shiho bit her lips. "I don't know! It's not like I want them to turn to _poison_! I'm amongst the people that are curious as to why they keep turning into poison!" She forced the tears that were coming to her eyes and shouted: "Let's call it a day! That's enough for today."

She motioned for the silver-haired man to go away and proceeded to her desk to tidy it up.

At 2:30 A.M., Shiho Miyano stuck her hands in her lab coat pockets and walked upstairs and into her room, a place separated from the dormitories where the scientists in the lab usually slept at. It was small, with only a bed and a desk where she completed homework for school.

Gin had once mentioned that she had gotten a single room because she was different from the other scientists in the lab. _Because I am the only one who has the potential of creating_ the _pill._

"Damn it," Shiho said, curling up in a ball on the corner of her room and burying her head in her arms. "Damn it…"

.

.

.

Shiho chuckled to herself in the bus as she watched Akemi's video message to her. She was so concentrated she didn't feel Shinichi's presence until she felt a hand on her shoulder. Startled, she quickly turned off her phone.

"What's so funny?" The high-school detective asked, stretching his hand as he tried to get Shiho's phone. "Who's video was it?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Shiho said, shooing his hand off. "Just a video message from my sister."

"Your sister? Does she go to this school?"

Was it safe to tell Shinichi this? Nobody except the Organization was supposed to know she had a sister… Why had she mentioned Akemi to Shinichi in the first place? "Uh, no, she goes to another school. In Japan. But she's coming to visit me today." _Wait, why did I tell him this?_

Shinichi smiled. "That's nice." He pointed to the seat besides her. "Can I sit here?"

Shiho's heart skipped a beat at this. "Sure," she responded, inching a bit towards the window while hugging her bag closer.

Shinichi pulled out a earphone from one of his ears and offered it to Shiho. "Wanna hear some music?"

"Sure," Shiho said again.

Shiho was surprised to hear _Say Something_ as soon she put the earphone in. She closed her eyes to the familiar melody, mouthing the lyrics to herself.

She felt so relaxed, like there was nothing wrong with her life; she had Shinichi, a friend, sitting besides her, she was wearing a uniform and was on a bus, heading to school. Normal people sat around her, each doing their normal actions-reading books, listening to music and looking out the window.

She tried to enjoy the feeling of being ordinary, for once.

But when she closed her eyes, past memories rose up in her head. How she had broken the gem apart to get data, and how a red liquid had flown from it, down her hands… The blood of her mother had also flown down from her hands to her elbows in the same fashion. Her cousin had whispered silent words of comfort before she collapsed in front of her, coughing out… blood.

Shiho gulped the tears down. _Why can't I be normal?_

She hadn't realized she had been sleeping until Shinichi pulled out the earphone from her. "We're at school, Shiho," he announced, shaking her.

Shiho followed Shinichi down the steps of the bus. Ran, Shinichi's childhood friend stood waiting for her best friend. She smiled brightly and linked arms with Shinichi while talking to him about something. Shiho could not hear what the couple was discussing from where she stood.

Smiling sadly, Shiho pocketed her phone and followed the Japanese couple into the school building, where she stopped in front of her locker and got out the right textbooks. _What do I have today? Math, chemistry, history and… Literature. Ugh._

She saw Ran Mouri pouting at Shinichi from the corner of her eyes. "Why do we have different classes?" Ran complained, shoving her bookbag into her locker and getting her P.E. uniform out.

"Why don't you study more?" Shinichi replied jokingly, laughing as he, also, picked up his textbooks. "If you had gotten higher grades, we would have been in the same classes. See, Shiho and I have the same schedule!" Shinichi said, referring to Shiho.

The young lady in question felt blood rising to her cheeks at this mention, and quickly exchanged the books in her bag to the textbooks she would need today. She breathed in and out a couple of times until the color left her face, then she tapped Shinichi on the shoulder. "Let's go to class. The bell will ring in a couple of minutes."

"Oh, yeah, see ya later, Ran," Shinichi breathed and followed Shiho down the hallway of the school. But as he didn't watch where he was heading, he bumped into the other girl, causing her to make a few cold comments at him. Shinichi shot back a few words at her, and the cycle repeated itself.

Looking at the couple bickering as they walked down the hallway until they arrived in front of the advanced math class, Ran smiled thinly.

.

.

.

Shiho gasped when she saw her sister standing in front of the gates of her school. "Akemi!" She exclaimed as she ran to hug her sister. "It's been so long since I've seen you!"

The older girl beamed at her little sister, hugging her closer so that she could whisper in Shiho's ear: "I'll wait for you at the lab. I have something to talk over with Gin." Then Akemi released her little sister. Seeing a group of students approach the gate, Akemi waved at Shiho and walked out the gates of Shiho's school.

"Let's go home together," Shiho squeaked when she heard a voice behind her. Shiho turned around only to bump her nose against Shinichi's. Awkward silence encompassed them; Shiho could feel Shinichi's breath against her lips. Shinichi was the first to pull away and cough uncomfortably. "I mean, we ride the same bus."

Shiho, also laughing uncomfortably and trying hard to hide the tint of pink on her face, nodded as they walked towards the bus station. Feeling a need to change the subject, she asked: "On a side note, are you done with the powerpoint for literature class?"

"Actually, no. I was going to finish it today, but forgot," Shinichi said. "I'll, uh, send it to you by today though."

"Send me a text after you send it to me. I don't usually check my email," Shiho replied. "Oh, the bus is here!"

"I've always wondered how your house looks like, actually. I've been to Ran's house, Thomas's house and Jay's house and such but I've never been to your house. Out of the people I actually am close to, I mean," Shinichi remarked as he stood up to turn on the air conditioner in the bus. "It's a bit hot, don't you say so?"

"No," Shiho replied sarcastically. "It's thirty-one degrees celsius. Regarding the comment on my house, I'm not allowed to bring visitors to my dwelling. Jolly parents I have," she smiled cynically.

Shinichi chuckled. He proceeded to talk on about the presentation they were going to make tomorrow, while Shiho listened. "Oh, I guess I'll see you tomorrow," Shinichi said when the bus stopped in front of his apartment.

Shiho watched in amusement as she saw the world-famous Japanese-American detective shove his way through the fans gathered up around his apartment. Because the next stop was her house, Shiho gathered up her bag and stood in front of the exit. She saw Akemi leaning against the wall, texting somebody when she arrived in front of her house. "Akemi?" Shiho called.

"Shiho," Akemi said. Shiho noticed her looking extremely tired and worn. Had she fought with Gin? Noticing Shiho staring at her, Akemi smiled and pulled her hair into a ponytail. "Let's go to a cafe near the lab and get ourselves some drinks," Akemi said, pulling her little sister with her.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _I was going to end Chapter 1 after the Miyano sisters went to the cafe, and I was also aiming for 2000 words, but meh. I'm happy with what I've got. It would've been a tad bit awkward if I'd ended it after the cafe scene. Not that this ending is not awkward, but yeah.  
Please tell me if I've got too many unnecessary details in the chapter or if it's too boring;; I'm not sure how to keep the pace atㅠㅠ  
I hope you liked the second chapter of TLM too! Thank you so much for reading! ^^ Leave any questions or comments in the review section and I'll try to answer them :)_


	3. Chapter 2

Akemi smiled as she leaned over towards her little sister. "I really wanted to see you," Akemi said, handing over Shiho her mocha latte.

"Me too," Shiho replied as she took a sip of her drink. It was sweeter than she had expected it to be. "How did you come here? Aren't you supposed to have school in Japan?"

"Exchange student," Akemi said. "They sent me as an exchange student."

Shiho couldn't help but laugh cynically. "That's funny," she said. Akemi snorted. "No, really, it is. I wasn't expecting that. I guess that means you'll stay here for a while? How long? Is there something you have to do?" Shiho sighed. "I thought they'd agreed to let go of you after what happened a few years ago."

"They said they will really let me go this time if I am to complete this mission," Akemi said proudly. "Me, and also you. Shiho, we'll be free! Free of all this nonsense!" Akemi stirred her mint chocolate chip latte with a spoon. "We'll be ordinary. For once."

Shiho tentatively bit her bottom lip. "Are you sure…?" she asked. Ordinary! She would love to be ordinary. It had been her dream to be normal since her parents had died. She longed to live in a normal apartment and longed to not mix chemicals and watch them explode.

"Yes!" Akemi grabbed Shiho's hands and squealed. "I'll get you out of this Organization. We'll go to Japan and live in our own apartment, away from the Organization's grasp."

 _Japan…_ Shiho had not been to Japan for many years. She would love to go to Japan… But then Shinichi's face popped up in her mind. Shiho decided to shake it off. She could make new friends in Japan. "What's the mission?" Shiho asked.

"Mmmm… Robbing one billion yen from a bank. I may not be as smart as you, but I'm a skilled gunman and… Oh, no worries, it'll turn out just right and we'll be free from the Organization." Akemi pressed the home button on her phone to take a look at the time. "We still have time. How's life here?"

"It's fine, I've made friends and… yeah. It's all fine. I have the highest grades among my peers, and no one has noticed anything wrong about me," Shiho said. "Life in the laboratory is fine. We haven't made much progress for the last few months, but the pill is almost ready. Gin told me to finish it within a week, but I don't know. I'm still wondering why my projects keep turning into toxic." Shiho looked down, trying to keep her tears in.

"Well," Akemi mused, "I'll be two grades above you, so I'll see you at school, my little bottle of sherry."

.

.

.

She didn't have legs. She was a fish from hip and down. But she wanted legs. Shiho had to meet the prince she had saved a few weeks ago. Shiho tipped the contents of the flask the witch had given to her into her mouth. An agonizing pain ran down her body. Shiho covered her mouth so that she would not scream. Shiho felt herself losing consciousness; the last thing she saw was a man pulling her up from the water and covering her naked body with his jacket.

"Wake up," the man told Shiho.

"Mmmm hmmm…" Shiho mumbled. She felt cold. She snuggled closer to the man. The man smelled strangely like Shinichi…. Shiho suddenly realized what was happening and opened her eyes.

"Oh, my god, I am so sorry," Shiho exclaimed, peeling herself off Shinichi. "I am extremely sorry. I did not mean to… Ugh." Shiho grabbed her bag off the bus seats, hugging it close to her, and covered her face, burning red, with her hands. "I am mortified. Leave me alone."

Shinichi managed to chuckle. "Did you not have a good night's sleep yesterday?" he asked. "You were sleeping really well there. You, like, hugged me closer when I was trying to get you off me."

Shiho felt more heat rise up her face. "I told you to leave me alone," she murmured through her hands. "I feel like crying right now."

"It's okay, man, I don't care!" Shinichi said, laughing. "I've done it before to Ran, she didn't care." The bus driver announced that they had arrived at school, and Shinichi offered his hand to Shiho. "Come on, let's go."

Ran was out to greet Shinichi, as usual. Shiho didn't understand why she didn't take the bus; Ran seemed to want to spend every single second of her life with her best friend. This time, though, Ran grabbed Shiho's hand, too, and pulled the two of them towards her. They heard her talk about karate and how she was planning to learn and little taekwondo until they got to the lockers.

Shiho was surprised to see Akemi waiting for her near her locker. "Hey, Shihs!" Akemi waved. "Are these your friends?" Akemi peeked at their nametags. "Shinichi and Ran. Nice to meet you! I'm Shiho's older sister."

"Uh, I'll see you at class. You can go first," Shiho told Shinichi hastily and walked towards Akemi. "What in the world is wrong? You're not supposed to contact me directly in school."

Akemi laughed. "It's nothing, it's nothing. Here, I just happened to buy a necklace. I thought it would suit you." Akemi helped Shiho put on a golden locket around her neck. "By the way, I was reading **Hamlet** and I could really relate to the words in page **205**."

Hamlet… 205… Behind the library at 2:05 P.M. Shiho nodded curtly. "That's nice, I'll try to read Hamlet next time. By the way, is this…?" Shiho pointed at the whistle. Akemi nodded, and Shiho smiled tightly. "I'll see you after school," Shiho said, and ran to class. Akemi felt her eyes water up, but turned away and headed towards her class.

.

.

.

Shiho glanced at her watch. It was 2:03. About time.

When Shiho felt someone tap her shoulder, she smiled. "Oh, you're early. Hand me the bag first, and I'll give you the necklace."

"What? Shiho? What bag? What are you doing here?" Shiho, startled, turned around. Shinichi was standing there, confusion written all over his face.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Shiho hissed. "I can't let you be here-" Shiho grabbed the lost boy's wrist and pulled him up the stairs of the library. She looked at the time. 2:04. One more minute. "Hey, Shinichi, I'll meet you up there in a minute. A girl borrowed a book from me and she told me to meet her behind the library," Shiho lied.

Shinichi smiled enthusiastically. "Oh, okay," he said, brightening up. "I'll be in the mystery section."

Shiho, feeling relieved, ran down the stairs. 2:05. She saw a scrawny man with a backpack slung over his shoulder waiting for her. She tapped him on the shoulder. "Hand the bag over first. I'll give you the locket after that."

The man grinned. "Show me the diamond," he said. His grin showed his yellow teeth that looked like he hadn't brushed them for at least a month. Shiho felt like throwing up.

Nevertheless, Shiho clicked the locket open. A diamond, the size of the locket, lay inside. "There, now give me the goddamn backpack. If I find out that you have lied to me, you will not walk out of this place alive. Understand?"

Shiho opened the bag to see if what the man had put in the backpack was really the type of drug they needed. She put her gloved right hand into one of the plastic bags in the backpack and took out a handful of the powder. Taking out a syringe with bleach in it, she let a few drops of bleach fall into the white powder. Nothing happened. "My god, I guess you will not be able to go back home," Shiho said.

The man crackled. "My dear girl, I'm not weak enough to lose to you," he said as he tossed the black kipling backpack over to Shiho.

"But I am not alone," Shiho said, and clapped her hands. "Good bye."

Leaving the man alone with the assassins from the Organization and the black backpack full of useless white powder, Shiho walked up the stairs of the library. She instantly felt guilty looking at Shinichi, sitting on a beanbag and reading a _Sherlock Holmes_ book.

Shinichi loved Sherlock Holmes. He was also making his way to being one of the most famous detectives in the country. He might as well be called the young Sherlock Holmes of the 21st century.

But she, Shiho Miyano, was Moriarty. No matter how hard she tried, she would never be able to be part of the society Sherlock Holmes was in. She would always be in the shadows, forever looking at the light and wishing to be part of it.

Shiho, pushing away those thoughts, tiptoed behind Shinichi and covered his eyes with her hands. "Ran?" Shinichi asked, laughing. "Ran, is that you?" Shiho bit her lips. _Ran. Why Ran? I hate Ran._ Her eyes widened. Horrified at what she had just thought of ('I hate Ran'), Shiho bit her lips harder. They started bleeding. Shinichi did not know. "Oh, I guess it's not Ran. Is it Percy? Or Emmanuel?"

"It's me," Shiho said, upset that Shinichi had not even thought of her. She crossed her arms and sat on the beanbag next to Shinichi's.

"Oh, right, Shiho. I thought it would take you longer!" Shinichi exclaimed. "Do you want a book?" Shiho nodded. "Here, I just finished reading this one. It's really good." Shinichi handed Shiho a _Arsène Lupin_ book.

Shiho couldn't help but make a face at it.

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** _Oh wow, I had no idea it would take me_ this _long to upload the next chapter. My finals ended two weeks ago, and I was busy since then with homework and stuff. Math got on my way, I had papers to finish... Oh, these all sound like excuses. I guess I'll just say it right out: I'm sorry for the late update.  
_ _I should have updated it earlier. There is a reason why it's shorter than I had planned it to be. I was going to add another scene at the end, but I decided it would be better to just upload it earlier. I'll try to make the next chapter longer. I am so, so sorry. I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)_


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